Game Vs. Steelers: Locker Room Defense

On whether he is a different and better player than at other destinations: “Well it’s a system that I excelled in, in college. I knew what coach [Jerry Azzinaro] required of me there and so I’m able to come back here and able to just slip in to exactly what I know he needs to be done and try to get stronger and do what’s asked of me.”

On whether coming here is like a second chance: “Yeah there was definitely a reason that I came here, I thought it was the best opportunity for me and so I’m just making the most of it.”

On whether being older is a problem: “All I can control is if we get better together, that’s all I can control. I can’t control anything else and it really doesn’t matter, you just waste your time and energy thinking about all that stuff. I can just focus on what I can do.”

On how he can get so many batted passes: “Well first of all, I’m just a long and tall guy and it comes naturally. But, if you can’t get to the quarterback you can at least affect him, and that’s one of the ways that I can affect him is to use the body and try to deflect it every time I get a chance.”

Defensive Coordinator Bill Davis

On whether the play tonight on third downs was encouraging: ”It was real nice and we know third downs are a point of emphasis for us. It hasn’t been good enough. we move forward. It’s still not good enough. We have to do better than we did tonight, but I did like the way it got better.”

On what he was looking for tonight as compared to last weekend: ”All these pre-season games are to me is, are we moving in a forward direction in all areas. In our two gapping technique, in our pass rush technique, in our coverage, in our lowering the penalties and adjusting to the way they call the game. We moved forward, we really did. It’s not where we want to be, but hopefully we can get farther and farther along by the time we start action, we’re starting in a better place than we did a year ago.”

On what he thinks of Brandon Graham’s training camp and pre-season: “He’s had a nice pre-season. He’s always had the ability to rush the passer nobody’s doubted him. He and Vinny [Curry], they’re very good pass rushers along with a couple of other guys that we have. So, I like to see Brandon [Graham] out there getting sacks and disrupting the quarterback.”

On whether he thinks playing in space is still a work in progress: “It’s a work in progress, I mean usually the guys that go forward really well struggle going backwards, and vice versa the guys who go backwards really well don’t always go forward well. So, it’s an age old outside linebacker growth that you do. Guys that move forward, you work on their drops and guys that drop real well, you try and get their pass rush better. So the guys are getting better in those areas and we’re excited about who we have.”

On Nolan Carroll’s play in tonight’s game: “Yeah, I’m glad he got out there. Nolan was healthy and stayed healthy first of all, and he’s a great competitor. I’m glad to see him out there, he just did what we thought he would do, he played as we thought he would play.”